Halo
by Fragmental Dani
Summary: Done a thousand times over, I decided to write a take on James first noticing Lily as something more than a classmate. Of course, a Marauder's Prank leads up to it... Please R/R!!


Halo

By Fragmental Dani

I haven't read much HP fanfiction yet. There's a ton of it and I just haven't started yet. I don't know if I'm getting all my facts straight, I don't know that I'm getting every little detail right. I don't know that I'll write any more HP fics after this. James Potter is roaming my head and insisting that this be written. He's a pretty adamant guy if you didn't know. I've seen that a lot of James/Lily fics get written, a lot of them playing James and Lily to be perfect people, extremely popular. Some even give James and Lily a love/hate relationship. The ones I've seen bother me because the characters written by J.K. Rowling never seem to over-obsess this way. I've never seen it stated that James and Lily were fast friends. Harry is popular, sure, but a lot of people like him yet don't consider him a friend. I think James and Lily were that way, too. All this has not been an attack on other fics though, mind you. It's just a warning about what mine is going to be like. But no matter what, James was a prankster and a damn loyal friend. I hope I do him justice. Too bad I don't own him or any of the other characters used within. This world is all property of WB and Ms. Rowling. Spoilers through PoA. Hope you enjoy. 

~O~ ~O~ ~O~ 

Sirius nudged Remus, grin becoming plastered on his face as he nodded to the dungeon entrance. "The idiot's doing it!" he whispered sharply. 

Remus lifted his head from dicing his morning glory petals to see James Potter coming to class finally. James' face held a look that told everyone he was definitely up to no good. They all knew it would be too late before they found out what that no good was. 

"Potter, are you late again? I believe I told you last time that I'd more than double the cost? Twenty points from Gryffindor."

"Like we'd win the cup anyway," James muttered. 

Professor Ainmire glared.  "If you plan to hover in the entrance all day, more points can be taken. I can also tack on some detention."

James' hand suddenly shot out to gain balance from the wall, a wince darting across his face. Sirius, Remus, and Peter bit their lips from laughing outright. 

"I'm trying," James admitted.

Ainmire glared as the rest of class watched him creep slowly into the room. Sirius' eyes rested on James' legs, which were shaky and slowly thrusting one foot in front of the other. Each step seemed to require some great concentration from him. He was slowly stumbling forward, his hand still raking the wall. His own eyes were glued to his feet, watching each step as if he expected to fall.

"Oh look. It's Christmas already," a Slytherin boy said, repressing the urge to simply push James along to hurry him up.

"Oh look. A lump of coal with your name on it, Severus," Sirius was quick to reply.

"Quiet, the both of you. What's wrong with you, Potter? Have you misplaced your ability to walk today?" Ainmire snipped. 

James tried to fight the grin that was trying to play upon his lips. "Ah, no sir. I'm… perfectly… fine," he said slowly, his voice straining a bit as he wobbled another foot forward. 

Ainmire's eyes shot to James' circle of friends to find them still stifling laughter. He knew then that there was a method to this madness. His eyes narrowed as they crept back to James. James' hand left the wall and he staggered forward to keep his balance. "_Mister_ Potter," Ainmire snarled. "If I didn't know better, I'd believe you've come to my class drunk."

But James head shot up fast. "No, sir! I'm not drunk! Just not feeling… shall I say… all here." His body seemed to thrust forward and his hand quickly reached for anything to steady himself lest he fall. The only thing his hand found was a shoulder. He latched on quickly. 

"Ah! No!" came the cry of surprise from Lily Evans. Her finely cut leaves fell into her cauldron all at once. A small bang erupted from within as the potion turned from black to a bright yellow, almost instantly. 

"Potter! You dunderhead! Evans, quickly! Stir it vigorously. It will return to proper form if everything so far has been precise," Ainmire instructed.

James quickly forced himself to check his balance and let go of Lily. "Sorry," he muttered.

Lily just shook her head at him and then began to stir frantically. Her potion turned back to black, though it was thicker than she had planned on it being. 

Ainmire let out an exasperated sigh. "Potter, why you are playing the part of a drunken master today is quite beyond me; you and your dear friends can pat each other on the back after class for pulling a fast one on Old Ainmire. But detention for the four of you should prevent this sort of hoodwinking from happening again, hmm?" 

James finally reached his own cauldron beside Sirius. Sirius scowled and kicked James in the shin. James had to grab Remus' arm to keep from falling. During class, they kept telling James that they hadn't thought he'd actually do it and that he was indeed more idiotic than they'd initially given him credit for. Of course, this was the reaction that James' had pulled the stunt for in the first place. Even though they'd be punished, grins of victory covered their faces for the remainder of class. 

It was some odd hours later that he regretted taking the potion. Its effects were wearing off. Getting to all his classes earlier had proved a chore, but he had managed. He had received a lot of funny stares during Quidditch practice. But his legs weren't really needed for flying, but he still didn't dare any of the fancy flying stunts he usually performed. 

He was walking the grounds alone, back to his room from practice when he felt the first tingling of the potion wearing off. It felt funny at first, like someone had turned tiny harmless ants loose inside his lower legs. He smiled, glad the potion was finally losing its power over him. He continued to hobble when the second wave of tinglings hit. It didn't feel funny anymore.

His gray eyes went wide at the pain, his lower leg muscles clenching very tightly and not letting go. His toes were being stabbed by thousands of needles and then they clenched up as well. He cried out as he fell to the ground, grasping at his legs. It was then that he regretted taking Sirius' dare. Never again would he take any potion to put any of his body parts to sleep. Now that his legs were waking up after a few hours of sleep, he found that his legs were definitely just as grouchy as he was when first wakened. He had never thought of having to deal with the pain of his legs waking up when he had agreed to the silly dare. He lay writhing on the grass, eyes clenched behind his perfectly round glasses, begging the pain to stop as he moaned softly.

"What the… James?" he vaguely heard someone gasp. He looked up to see Lily standing over him. "Are you okay?"

"No. My legs… please… Help me," he all but whimpered, feeling helpless and hoping there was a way out of this pain. 

Lily's eyes went wide. "I… I'll run and get Madam Pomfrey!" she said.

He felt like an idiot rolling around on the ground as he was, begging the help of a fellow Gryffindor and prefect that he hardly even knew. But his legs _hurt._ He was just glad it wasn't Peter who had found him. He'd never hear the end of it. "No! No, she'd expel me on the spot! It's not that serious… Look, I drank this potion to put my lower legs and feet to sleep. They're waking up now and… ugh…" He was clenching his left calf again. 

Lily let out a breathe somewhere on the lines of annoyance and relief. "Let me guess," she said, kneeling carefully beside him. "You and your little posse came up with this ingenious idea and decided to try it?" 

He was able to give a small grin. "So close… Remus' potion. Sirius' dare." He then began to cringe as more pain hit. 

"It was very stupid, James, no matter who was in charge of the schemes. Do you know why our legs fall asleep?" she asked, fighting his hands away from his legs. "Straighten them out."

"I can't move them! Doesn't it have something to do with blood flow?" 

Her hands forcibly began to straighten his legs out as he yelled. "Oh stop that. You should've expected this. It has everything to do with blood flow. That potion stopped the flow to your legs. You could very well lose your legs, you know." 

His bones, now straight, felt as if they were about to burst apart inside his legs. He was lying flat on his back. "All that Muggle knowledge must come in handy after all," he moaned. 

Lily gave him a half-offended look, not sure what he meant. But she decided that he meant no harm really from the look in his eyes. She pushed his robe up and quickly hiked his breeches legs up above his knees so that his legs were bared. James watched her, still in great pain, hoping she didn't find his white hairy legs repulsive. Her hands were then on his left thigh, just above the knee. She began kneading his muscles, her fingers working their way down his legs. "This will get the blood moving faster. If you can sit up and work on the other leg as I'm doing here, you'll be okay shortly." 

James lay still for a moment, the spasms in his left leg radically reduced with Lily's pressure. She continued to work her way down to his ankles and then started the process over again. He sat up with a bit of a fight and began to work on his right leg. The pain was still there, but his mind had wandered elsewhere. Here was Lily Evans, rubbing his legs for him, trying to help put him out of his misery. He kept glancing at her and quickly looking away if she looked at him. Why had he never noticed she was kind of cute before? Her bright green eyes shone even in the slight darkness and her long braided red hair seemed overly neat. His eyes didn't dare dart to her other body features while she sat so close to his lower body. 

"What? Why do you keep looking at me like that?" Lily finally asked. 

"Hmm?" James asked, playing innocent. "Sorry, I was just trying to make sure you didn't mind doing this for me."

"It was still stupid, James. Promise me you won't do something this silly again," she said, taking her hands away as James fell back onto his back, quite relieved. His pain was gone.

He grinned up at her. "Promise me you won't tell anyone the truth and I will."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Of course. I get blackmailed for caring about your welfare. Fine. I won't tell."

"Then I won't take any sleeping potions anymore," he said.

"That isn't what you agreed to," she said.

"Close enough. Thank you, Lily," he said, closing his eyes, moving his legs around a bit. 

It was an odd silence between them. James lay reveling in the fact that he could feel his legs again and Lily was making no move to go about her business either. 

"Lily?"

"Hmm?"

"About what I said… The Muggle knowledge thing? I really didn't mean it as an insult. I realize that you must hear things like that a lot from the Slytherins, but I didn't mean it harshly. You looked a bit upset over it," James said, his eyes still closed. He didn't find it strange at all to feel Lily run her fingers through his unruly hair once. It felt almost natural for her to be doing such a thing to him. It confused him. He barely knew her.

"I know you didn't. And I don't keep too much stock in anything that any Slytherin has to say," she replied. 

Silence fell again.

"What are you doing out so late anyway?" James asked, finally looking up at her. 

Her eyes were turned heavenward at the emerging stars. "Nothing. I don't want you laughing at me."

"Laughing? At you?  Never. With you, maybe," he said, smiling.

"I don't quite trust that look on your face," she said, looking back down.

James sat up and leaned back on his hands. "I wouldn't either. It's an awful looking face to have to trust, wouldn't you say?"

Lily smirked. "There's a Muggle proverb that says if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

"Ha. Aw, come on, Lily. What are you doing out here so late?" James asked again.

She glanced up at the stars again. "Special permission from Professor Trelawney. I saw something in my crystal today during Divination that I believed would come to pass out here. I was wrong though, just as she said I was."

"Ah. What'd you see?" he asked.

"Oddly enough? A stag," Lily said.

James fell into a coughing fit. Only for 4 months had he been able to accomplish the task of becoming an Animagi. "A stag? Here at Hogwarts? Not unless its on the table," he said quickly when he recovered. 

"Heh. That's what the Professor said too. But I saw a stag out here, almost in this exact spot. He was trembling in pain, it seemed. I thought he had run out of the forest after being attacked or something, but I wasn't sure. I just saw it, and it was hurt. I wanted nothing more but to help the poor thing." Lily sighed. "Don't laugh, okay?" 

But James' face held no amusement. She had come there to help him. She had seen a vision that had led her there. "I'm not laughing at all. I find it very amazing. Lucky for me there's no stag, I guess."

"You've never taken the class, have you?" she asked.

"No. I like my future dark and blurry. If I knew I was going to have a bad day, I'd stay in bed instead of getting up and facing it," he said. 

"That's even if you were able to see things," Lily added. 

James nodded. "Yeah." He dared another look at her, and then stood up. It felt nice to feel his weight completely again. He offered her a hand and pulled her up. "Come on, I'll walk you back if you think you won't find your stag out here."

"I found you. I guess that was close enough," Lily said. 

More than anything, James wanted to keep up the conversation. For the first time in his life, he couldn't find words to say. Noticing how nice she was and finding out she was having visions of him was too much, not to even mention the leg rub. His face turned red in the darkness.

"French chopsticks," James said to the Fat Lady. 

"No such thing!" she cackled as she swung open. 

James let Lily climb through first. His heart sank as she hurried up the stairs to the girls' rooms without so much as even saying goodnight to him. But then his left leg could still feel her hands on it as he climbed his own stairs. 

"Where have you been?" Sirius asked, sitting on the floor with Remus and Peter, pouring over sketches of maps of Hogwarts. "We've been working on this all evening without you."

James sat on the edge of his bed, telling his friends of his time with Lily. "Suddenly I find her simply amazing," he finished, a big grin on his face.

"Wait a darn second. Are you telling us that… You… Lily…" Remus started, cocking his head to the side. 

James pushed his glasses up on his nose with one finger. "I'd like it to be so," he admitted. "I think, anyway." He fell back onto his bed, closing his eyes, remembering. 

"You think?" Peter asked.

"I think I want another leg rub. Remus, is there any more of that potion?" 

~O~ ~O~ ~O~

_I love you girl 'til my face turns blue,_

_But I don't have to hold my breath for you._

_I have to have my breath to hold!_

_Come on, Halo!_

_Halo!_

_She's got a smile for me._

_Halo!_

_Halo! _

_Who knows what she sees in me?_

_Halo!_

_~From "Halo," by King Konga~_

I would adore constructive criticism. Worship me, flame me, do what you will. I can take it. 


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